What FNDM Means
by The Inspectre
Summary: Not much to say.. My take on and explaination of the popular term, not satire or anything like that. A tribute to Monty Oum and some late night reflection. Tags are because.


_Howdy readers! Inspectre Online. Late night here while writing up/starting Chapter 5 of Grapefruit and Icecream and I just.. Suddenly wanted to write this and get it off my chest. Originally this started as more of a random thought. Since team names are all acronyms.. Has anyone ever stopped to think what our 'team name' is comprised of? It went more introspective from there, especially with it having been a year since Monty's passing a few days ago. As we all know he was a very inspirational and creative figure, one the world got to know a lot better after his involvement in Red vs Blue and the creation of RWBY (for other previous works see Dead Fantasy, Icarus, the ROAD series, and the famous Haloid video) but sadly lost on February 1st of 2015. Despite 'simply being' an animator he's touched a lot of peoples' lives in more ways than one, as evidenced by the massive outcry over news of his passing and how widespread support was and how fast tributes started coming. Still to this day even. One of those lives was mine as I've been a fan of his work since before RWBY was even a thing, and I wanted to share my thoughts on what the FNDM means to me. Maybe some people don't like the nickname or think it's stupid, some think it's cute, or whatever. I want to share my thoughts on the 'members' of it. Maybe I'm overanalyzing/overthinking things but it's late and a sleepy brain can concoct some strange things. Some spoilers below, so fair warning. It also won't exactly correlate to the color naming rule, but consider it an exception like Ozpin._

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Familiarity. Been a good part of the series so far. We've seen a lot of this expressed. From Team RWBY coming together during Initiation to Weiss and Blake setting aside their honestly big differences later on in the series.. I mean Blake was part of the organization that's been terrorizing Weiss' family for at least a generation. Weiss defrosting and growing away from being this stuck up and demanding spoiled princess partially thanks to Ruby.. That was a big step. Blake learning to trust her newfound team and not have to hide her identity or be ashamed/scared of what she is, at least with them.. She really opened up, if only to a small group of people so far. Yang more or less trying to get Ruby to 'break out of her shell' which if I recall correctly she says word for word since she needs to make friends aside from her sister and her scythe (even gave it the family name) was another one..

And it's not just in Team RWBY. JNPR, Nora and Ren have apparently been together since childhood and taken care of eachother without any form of parents around. Jaune and Pyrrha, and Weiss as well. He wasn't attracted to the latter because of her name and fame, and didn't try to approach Pyrrha because she was this omiwrog awesome fighter. The guy's simply nice. 'Strangers are just friends you haven't met yet' is a quote I'd put on my refrigerator, and a very positive way to look at life. Even if Blake would look over her book and tell you life isn't always that positive, like how she did to Ruby very early on. There are more examples I could list outside those and from later in the series but we'd be here awhile so let's move on.

It's not just in the show either. Look outside. It's somewhat the same in a lot of fandoms but love for the show, its creator(s), and fellow fans have brought a lot of people together over a common interest. ..Or in my case, obsession, heh. You'll find a share of discontent, disagreement, and the like just like other fandoms too but generally speaking I've seen it less in RWBY's. From the cosplaying to the writing, the drawing, the everything really. Mostly everyone gets along. Even in the shipping and theorizing sections, sure people have their preferred ways of thinking but that's everywhere and more or less you guys don't let it get you down.

My first thoughts posting my first fic were accompanied by anxious and not-literal nailbiting at how it might be received even though I didn't think it'd be bad, probably just first-timer jitters, but I got blown away by the end result. Only served to reinforce my thoughts of how good a community RWBY's got and how welcoming it can be. A community where fans are a lot more than additional views/readers and where they can really come together to make up something great. All the fanfics, the artwork, the OCs and the RPs, the blogs, the fan songs, the Ask blogs too, the forums, and even the games and fan videos/animations.. Whether you're just a fan who watches the show, or a forumite/theorist with a 2k+ post count, a little or well known artist, you're all awesome and make up the amazing thing called the fandom. Can't spell it without fan after all.

And what would RWBY be without its fans? No matter how much or how little they involve themselves in it, we're all passengers of what I think has always been and always will be awesome ride. We'll experience it together, and even when it's come to a stop we'll still be on it. Then again, it won't ever truly stop. Not as long as new people get on and continue to build a path for it to drive on, and for.

Naivety. Another part of the show, and I mean this in the definition of innocence and lacking experience. These Huntsmen and Huntresses are just kids, being thrust into a world that's quickly becoming more than just fun and games and turning into something deeper and darker. Not without its light peeking through the shadows however.

As for what it correlates to the FNDM.. A lot of fans either driven or inspired have gotten starts here to gain that experience. Combined with a love of the show for that little extra push to pick up something like writing or drawing, and hone that talent. To grow along the way as their skills develop. I wasn't as good a writer before I started doing RPs several years ago, but I kept at it. And maybe I'm a little late to try my hand at writing fanfiction for a series that I've known about since the first trailer.. Then again it's never really too late, and never too early to start either come to think of it.

Digression aside, it was my love of RWBY that inspired me to pick up something I may never have tried otherwise and technically something I haven't really done before either. Fanfiction and roleplaying, while easily mixed, are not the same. I'm naive when it comes to the subject (seriously I had to have my friend/RP partner LegolasDragonRanger inform me of how to put that paragraph breaking line in to separate A/Ns from the story, which I probably would have figured out with a bit of experimentation but I'm used to chat room RPs and simplified letter sending on ReignofBlood) but I'll slowly and gradually get better as time goes on. I'm certain that others are no doubt starting forays into respective hobbies thanks to RWBY, whether it be animation of their own, writing out roleplays or fanfiction, drawing..

I wish I could draw but that's a bit daunting to me and I'm content with what I'm doing now. Sure, they might not be fantastic right off the bat, or maybe they will, but everyone's gotta start somewhere and all they can do is keep at it. Experience is the best teacher, and for the naive (and I don't mean that in any kind of negative way as I explained at the start) RWBY has given many of them a gentle loving nudge to start learning.

Drive. I'll drop some of his most well-known words of wisdom here for you guys before I start on my take of it.

"I believe that the human spirit is indomitable. If you endeavor to achieve, it will happen given enough resolve. It may not be immediate, and often your greater dreams are something you will not achieve in your own lifetime. The effort you put forth to anything transcends yourself, for their is no futility even in death." - Monty Oum

Nobody and nothing starts off perfect or IS perfect. There's always room for improvement or to get better. That's something you can make happen with enough motivation and desire to do so. The indomitable human spirit he speaks of can make the impossible possible. Men have lived most of their lives and given them in pursuit of their goals whether it was seeking peace and liberation among them like Ghandi or MLK, or aspiring to bettering themselves in whatever field they pursued. Maybe their dreams haven't been entirely realized yet, and the ones that were certainly weren't immediate, but I'll call anybody who wants to say they didn't have an impact or weren't worthwhile a liar. That effort they put in fuels the torch that has stayed lit, been carried, and passed on to future generations, guiding those that want to see those dreams become reality.

For us who seek something more of bettering the self than a grand dream, it's our hobbies. Largely at least and what corresponds to the FNDM the best. Though hey if you want to bring about world peace too, more power to ya. Desire alone isn't enough to make things happen and driving without direction is just wasted energy as Ozpin would say, you've got to do as Monty said. Endeavor to achieve and put in that effort. Eventually you'll see your work bear fruit. Like a real fruit tree it'll take time but every day you put in that work it adds up and grows. In my years (I'm not old by any standards but I started early) I know I've gotten much better than I used to be, and I've seen others do the same. Old friends from art class, RP partners I've know for half a decade or more, even a few friends that were in band.. They all had the drive to keep going like I did. You've just got to.. "Keep moving forward.", something else he's said.

I honestly don't know if I can match your resolve Monty but I'll never give up until I succeed. At what? Well.. Personally, I like to RP and I like to write so every day is a success to me **.** Fanfiction's another field I can do it in. Getting better and doing more? That's what my drive pushes me to. The fandom is one built by a man who embodied this value so much his friends, family, fans, and coworkers had to urge him to slow down and rest once in awhile, and it's something he passes on to us. I certainly respect the drive he had, and I certainly hope the rest of you want to be able to match it just as much.

Motivation. From a dictionary's point of view, this and drive are somewhat similar. From mine.. I'll put it this way since most here will understand what I mean. Sure you're driven to write. You love doing it. But why? Personal entertainment? Seeing how others like your work? Profit maybe? To get known? What gives you that drive to keep doing what you do and strive to get better? For me it's the first and second options, primarily the latter.

I wouldn't have made an FF account and published albeit nervously my first work of fanfiction if it was just a spare time hobby that I could have left in a folder after I wrote it out. I certainly wouldn't still be RP'ing after almost a decade if I didn't enjoy it and didn't think others did either. After seeing how well Grapefruit and Icecream was initially received I instantly felt a surge of gratification, and wanted to keep on writing it. That people liked my work and wanted to see more was that motivation. That's why I'm gonna keep writing. I have a lot of ideas. Some of which stem from old daydreams when I was either bored or had nothing better to do that I want to see written out for you all to read, so the prospect of how it'll go and turn out? That's also my motivation. Everyone's got a reason they picked up their hobby and to keep going with it, what's yours?

Well.. There you go. My take on our little team. Actually not so much a team of persons as it is a group of qualities. Fitting that they describe those that this grand collection of people exhibits. To sum it up..

Familiarity, of the closeness we have and the shared appreciation for RWBY, RoosterTeeth (you guys deserve a lot of credit too!), and Monty Oum. The man who started it all and lives on in memory and heart.

Naivety, of the fandom in which many got and were granted their starts in various artistic fields and the one that's still growing both in talent and in itself if you think about it. We've quite a trip ahead of us, and it'll leave a path for others to follow.

Drive, that which said fandom has to continue on no matter what. The resolve to seize our ideals and dreams. That which we have like the titular characters, because we also have..

Motivation, the force that gives that drive fuel. Everyone's motivation is about as different as a Semblance, though many can relate. That's why we're not just a fandom but the FNDM. We all have a reason to keep moving forward and share in that regard.

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 _Whew. Feels better with that off now. Maybe it makes sense, maybe it doesn't. Maybe you'll stop to point and laugh or maybe you'll reflect on what I've written. Whether you think I'm just being too deep and shouldn't write this late at night with little sleep, or honestly like what I've put down here.. Think about it. It's advice as much as it is explanation and musings. My honest thoughts and a tribute to the great Monty Oum, as well as all of my readers so far, my fellow fans and artists (not purely of the drawing kind), the great people at RoosterTeeth.. Keep up the good work, keep up your chins, and most importantly. One more time.._

"Keep moving forward."


End file.
